Fearless
By Damon Lamar Reed.
Fearless. Intelligent. Successful. These are words we don’t hear often enough when discussing our young boys. But it is us who need to speak into young lives to reinforce their value. They need to know that their life is valuable and that they have a purpose. With this, their possibilities are endless. These are some of things that went through my mind when creating this mural for Jane Neil School.
As part of an Ingenuity Grant in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, I conducted design workshops with students at Neil Elementary School, and the theme was S.O.A.R. Students created their own cut paper collages based on poems they wrote, and various quotes used for inspiration. I then took those creations and made 4 mural designs, one of which is Fearless. We then had school paint days where the students got the opportunity to paint on the murals. Once complete, I took back to the studio where me and my assistants added the final touches and brought the vision to full realization.
For the Fearless design, my plan was for boys to see themselves in the art. Much of my creations are about taking stereotypes and flipping them on their head. This mural serves as a vibrant, public declaration: let us relentlessly celebrate, encourage, empower, and reaffirm our boys.
The future is boundless—the sky is not the ceiling, but the beginning. Success is not a distant dream; it is an attainable goal within their very reach. The lesson of the mural is simple yet profound: take all of life’s experiences, all the fragments, and meticulously assemble them into nothing less than a masterpiece of a life.
At the bottom of the mural, it says, “Choose calm over chaos, kindness over blues.” This message is a deliberate and vital reminder to our Black boys that they hold the power of choice, even in the face of systemic challenges. Their destiny is not predetermined by outside forces, but from within. As a collective village: parents, teachers, mentors, and community members—we have the responsibility and the power to guide these boys toward becoming men of true substance, integrity, and purpose: great sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands. But this…it all starts with a seed…or maybe a mural!
